Amph On Earth, Everyone Can Hear You Scream: The Prometheus / Alien Discussion Thread (Romulus)

There must be someway out of here........


* sorry couldn't resist. And mid way through Battlestar Galactica.

 

It's official!

http://www.scified.com/site/prometheusmovies/prometheus-2-to-be-ridleys-scotts-next-movie

I absolutely loved the first one, and I couldn't be more excited for the sequel. And in my opinion all the issues (well, at least 99%) the first movie had can be fixed with a better edit of the movie/adding some of the deleted scenes in the final cut. It's a shame that Prometheus is one of those movies that is "cool to hate", despite the fact that most of the hate it gets is undeserved.

Bring on Prometheus 2!

 

Hmmmmmmm.

 

Agreed. Just delete the last 2 hours of the movie.

 

It's not cool to hate it. It pissed people off to hate it because there was so much potential and this should have been the perfect way to reinvigorate the franchise.

 

Well it did. It gave us new things, expanded on the Space Jockey (love the Engineers or hate them, they are an expansion of the old stuff) and as much as I love Xenomorphs I am glad we didn't get any facehuggers and chestbursters that we've seen 1000 times now.

 

Cuddles was pretty much a giant facehugger.

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Fair point, and you can use the same logic to say that the deacon was a chestburster. But at least they were different, and they appeared for 2 minutes total at the end of the movie. So definitely a fresh approach to the franchise.

 

You're right about that.

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What?!?! I mean I enjoyed Prometheus for all its potential and great aesthetics but how can you say that the poorly written characters who don't behave in realistic ways in relations to their jobs and do REALLY stupid things to get killed throughout is "undeserved"?

 

I replied some time ago in this thread to basically the same argument, so I'll just quote myself:

And I'll elaborate further on this. Most people bring the argument about how Milburn (the biologist) was scared of the dead Engineers, but didn't hesitate to try and touch the hammerpede. And I completely agree that it makes no sense in the theatrical cut, but there is a deleted scene (found as a blu ray extra, and I guess you can find it online too...how legal is the latter is another question) called "The First Alien", where soon after they enter the pyramid Milburn finds an alien slug/worm that he gets super excited about and immediately picks it up! So with that scene in mind, Milburn trying to touch the hammerpede makes much more sense. Also, Fifield was high when they entered the chamber with the head. And that's why I think Prometheus would make much more sense if FOX released a "final cut" with the deleted scenes added.
Another thing that people comment a lot about is how could Fifield get lost in the pyramid when he was in charge of the map. Well, simple - he didn't have a map with him. The map is actually seen only on the Prometheus as a hologram, and Fifield has the coordinates (watch the movie again, and you'll notice him looking at his wrist from time to time - that's probably where he reads the coordinates). But when the storm comes, there is a lot of interference between the team in the pyramid and the ship, and that's why Fifield and Milburn get lost. Again, the ship is the place where the actual map is, not with Fifield.

 

My only real complaint about Prometheus is that it should have gone back to the less advanced technology look and feel of Alien.

 

Yeah, in universe it does seem a bit unlogical. One explanation would be that the Prometheus utilized very rare, advanced and possibly experimental technology (the Pauling medpod is such, as Shaw comments that "they've only made a dozen of these"), while the Nostromo for example is a cargo vessel, that is actually an old ship by the time Ripley's crew find the derelict space craft on LV426. So in other words the Prometheus is a state of the art luxury vehicle compared to the cargo truck that is the Nostromo

 

Except that, really, the movie makes it seem like they must have gotten lost before the storm came. The storm didn't hit until the other group was already on their way back. M&F, leaving well before them, should have been ahead.

I hate to argue against the movie because I actually really liked it and continue to pop it in every once in a while. However, there were things that were bothersome. Two glaring problems I have to strain to over look: First, Charlie is not at all believable as a scientist. He's more like a spoiled brat, rock star wannabe. Particularly, I really cringe when he berates Elizabeth for risking her life and the mission to save the skull as the storm is hitting when he risked his own life and the mission by recklessly taking off his helmet in a place they just got to. Second, the birth of a 4 foot tall alien that gestated inside an 8 foot tall engineer's torso. It came off as an excuse to give us the alien "money shot" for a thrilling ending, but instead I was left seriously doubting the logistics of it. Also, as Alien is my favorite in the series, it seems a bit disjointed that the next alien birth will be of a 6-12 inch baby that looks completely different. There are ways to justify it (giant face-hugger, first evolution), but you really have to reach for it.

 

Judging from Fifields panic after he sees the Engineer corpse (yeah, his reaction was a bit silly, I agree on that), it is no surprise that he (they) get lost in the coridors and therefore waste time. Before they know it, they are lost and the storm outside makes communication with the ship (and therefore the actual map) almost impossible.

I believe that any sane person would rather risk losing the Engineer helmet/precious artifact than risk the life of another human being, especially their lover. So he being mad at Shaw for almost killing herself because of the helmet is something I understand. Now, as for the whole helmet removal thing, here's how I see it: The readings that the air is "cleaner than earth" perhaps means that it's "microorganism free" as well? Granted, it's not stated in the movie how the air scanners the scientists have with them work, but this being a sci-fi movie set in the future, I don't think it's a problem at all to assume that the scanners can tell if the air is safe to breathe not based just on air composition, but potentially dangerous microorganisms/viruses as well.

The xenomorphs are different organisms than the ones we see in Prometheus. The Deacon has a similar gestation period as the xenomorph, but it's not the same organism. And it's not an evolutionary precursor to the xenomorph as some people say. Evolution doesn't work that way.

 

Hey Damon Lindelof, chill out.

 

It's better than the AVP movies, especially the second one which was a gigantic middle finger to everyone who saw it.

 

Hahaha

But seriously, if you think that what I posted still doesn't make any sense, then feel free to explain why

 

As I said, I actually enjoy the movie despite those flaws that I'm unwilling to see around. There are some that I can dismiss, like the engineer skull being so heavy as to first require being carried by both Elizabeth and Ford, that Elizabeth somehow handles easily in the storm scene, that then is too heavy for them to lift on their own when studying it in the lab. Maybe she has super adrenaline powers at that time like a mom lifting a car off her child. (Please don't say storm winds, cuz she handled that thing like a school child's backpack at that point.)

Not evolution in the sense you're presuming. It is definitely intended to be an evolution of the mythic Alien monster. And we are supposed to connect it with the original otherwise Scott wouldn't have even put it in there and with such striking similarities to the original.

It wasn't a great film (maybe a B- or C+, IMO), but there were some very enjoyable and intriguing ideas. Certainly better than Alien Resurrection or any AVP films.

 

Agreed on that.

 

Yeah, I figured as much when I first saw the trailers. It's kinda like the way I see the Alliance's computer tech in ANH being so old fashioned is that it was salvaged from years earlier. Crude, but effective.

I liked "Requiem".

 

Sure, but that's like saying dog **** tastes better than human ****.

 

I'm hard pressed to think of many movies at all that aren't better than the second AVP movie.